Legal value of clinical competence and its certification

What is the legal value of the assessment and certification of professional skills and competence? The certification of skills can be defined as a process by which a third party gives written assurance that a person satisfies all requirements needed to operate to the highest professional standards in a specific field. Today, the certification of skill scan have a legal value in the context of professional responsibility when a judge has to assess the degree of expertise of a doctor who is under investigation for malpractice. From a legal point of view, it has some value regarding credits for professional appointments or career development within the state system. It is desirable that more and more both national and regional legislation should use the system of certification of skills through accredited third-parties to improve and assess the performance of professionals and the institutions and structures in which they operate. The system of certification of skills has to become part of the requirements for the accreditation of public and private facilities that provide services to the national health service. We believe that the certification of skills not only helps to recognize human intellectual capital, which is the main value of a healthcare organization, but also facilitates decisions about career paths and the construction of an effective training and study curriculum and portfolio

Differences in the Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Access to Care between Italians and Non-Italians in a Social-Housing Neighbourhood of Milan, Italy

The northern Italian region of Lombardy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic since its arrival in Europe. However, there are only a few published studies of the possible influence of social and cultural factors on its prevalence in the general population. This cross-sectional study of the San Siro social-housing neighbourhood of Milan, which was carried about between 23 December 2020 and 19 February 2021, found that the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies in the population as a whole was 12.4% (253/2044 inhabitants), but there was a more than two-fold difference between non-Italians and Italians (23.3% vs. 9.1%). Multivariable analyses showed that being more than 50 years old, living in crowded accommodation, being a non-Italian, and having a low educational level were associated with higher odds of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, whereas a higher level of education, retirement, and being a former or current cigarette smoker were inversely associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Our findings are in line with previous observations indicating that a lower socio-economic status may be a risk factor for COVID-19 and show that non-Italians are disproportionately affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This suggests that public health policies should focus more on disadvantaged populations